Chichibu Single Cask #10231 6 Years Old 2018 (Ex-Bourbon)

Founded in 2008 by Ichiro Akuto, Chichibu has risen fast from a small mountain distillery to one of the most sought names in Japanese whisky. Water comes off the Arakawa river system, filtered through the surrounding mountains to a clean mineral balance that lets the fruit and oak show. Wide day to night temperature swings drive the wood interaction, which is why Chichibu reads older than its years suggest.

This is unpeated single malt, matured in ex-bourbon American oak. At 6 years, helped by an angel's share near double Scotland's, the make tastes older than it is, the esters rounding into stone fruit and the oak settling. Ex-bourbon vanillin reads as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut. The palate leans on tropical and orchard fruit, mango and apple, with a clean cereal note beneath.

This bottling was distilled in 2018, from cask 10231 and bottled in 2024. It is a run of 201 bottles, an event release. It is the kind of single cask that built the distillery's reputation among collectors in barely more than a decade. Bottled at 64.4%, natural colour and not chill filtered. It remains one of the most collected names in modern Japanese whisky.